


Nothing to Worry About

by diamondforger



Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Category: Kamen Rider W
Genre: Hiding Medical Issues, M/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27270193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondforger/pseuds/diamondforger
Summary: Shoutarou worries too much sometimes, and sometimes he doesn't worry enough.
Relationships: Hidari Shoutarou/Philip
Series: Whumptober 2020 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945867
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	Nothing to Worry About

**Author's Note:**

> No 30. NOW WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?
> 
> **Wound Reveal** | **Ignoring an Injury** | Internal Organ Injury

Philip's knee hurt. It'd been hurting all day. He supposed he should research that, do a search to figure out what was happening. 

But he didn't want to. 

He was busy. There were more interesting things to research then aching bones. He didn't want to stop his reading or his note taking. 

It was getting annoying though. The more walking he did on the leg the more it hurt. He could work around that. He just didn't put much pressure on that foot as he moved around. After a couple hours of research, he barely remembered that he was limping. The pain wasn't bothering anymore, so he wasn't worrying about it. 

Shoutarou, of course, did worry about. Philip didn't even notice he'd come back before Shoutarou the man was fussing over him, asking what happened and lecturing Philip on taking care of himself. 

"I don't know what happened," Philip said, trying to move around Shoutarou, who was determined to stand directly in front of the white board Philip had been taking notes on, "I just woke up like this."

"Woke up?" 

"Yes," Philip tried dodging around Shoutaro, but he accidentally put too much weight on his knee which nearly gave out. "Can't this wait until I'm done?"

"No!" Shoutarou yanked the marker out of Philip's hand while he was distracted with pain. "Woke up as in this morning? Or woke up as in after the fight earlier today?"

Ah, that was a fair question. Philip could barely remember. He'd been in the middle of research when Shoutarou had called on him, and gone right back to it after the fight. Had his knee been messed up then? 

"I think it was after the battle," Philip said. Now that he was thinking about it, he vaguely remembered being up on a higher platform before transforming, but he'd woken up on the ground. "Do you remember feeling any pain when we connected?"

"No," Shoutarou's answer was short. A little too short. Was he lying? What a strange thing to lie about. "Sounds like you took a bad fall when you passed out this time," Shoutarou continued, "I've got a knee brace upstairs and you should really put some ice on it before it gets worse."

"Why do you have a brace on hand?" 

Shoutarou looked annoyed at the question. "Because I've gotten into a lot of scrapes, okay?" 

Philip accepted that answer. He'd been there for a fair number of those scrapes. It made sense that Shoutarou would be prepared for them. The only strange thing was he'd never seen Shoutarou using any medical devices. 

Had he merely missed it every time? He was hardly the most observant, but he should have noticed that sort of thing.

Perhaps he should focus on medical research next. It seemed like a very useful thing to learn about. Not something he'd spent much time on before. 

Philip hadn't even noticed he'd spaced out until Shoutarou was waving a hand in front of his face. "Are you coming?" he asked with a firm glare. 

"It's going to be hard to get up the stairs like this." Philip limped towards the spirals staircase. "Can you help with that?" 

Shoutarou hesitated. That was definitively strange. Normally Shoutarou would be jumping at the chance to help. 

Philip turned, looking his partner over again. Shoutarou was clenching and unclenching his left hand, moving the arm slowly. When he noticed Philip watching him he straightened, crossing both arms over his chest. It was meant to look casual, but Philip could easily see how stiff the movement was. 

"You're hurt too!" Philip said, pointing accusatory, as he limped towards Shoutarou. 

It made sense. Phillip felt little sensation in W's left side, and he rarely paid attention to it. That was Shoutarou's side to control. He hadn't noticed anything weird, but he'd been too focused on defeating the Dopant. 

"It's not a big deal." Shoutarou huffed, rubbing his injured arm. "I just banged it up a bit before the fight. It's just some bruising, nothing I can do but wait for it to heal up."

"You should really put some ice on it before it gets worse."

"Don't just repeat my own advice back at me," Shoutarou went to grab Philip's shirt, but he winced, dropping his arm before it got halfway up. He made the move to grab with his right hand, but Philip had already dodged back. 

The dodge made Philip's leg twinge, and he stumbled, falling on his ass. 

"Take it as a compliment," Philip said as he tried to stand, "It was the right advice."

Shoutarou glared as he used his good arm to pull Philip to his feet. "I always give good advice, I just don't appreciate the sass."

Philip leaned on Shoutarou as the two of the made their way to the stairs. He was careful not to put any weight on Shoutarou's other shoulder as the man help him up the rickety steps. 

Philip had never considered that the steps might be impractical before. He simply had accounted for the possibility that he'd be injured in the room specifically designed to be safe and secure. 

It wasn't an easy ascent. The spiral was small and they couldn't go up side by side. Philip had to lead, using Shoutarou's shoulder to help steady himself as they climbed. 

He could see Shoutarou struggling, unable to grab the handrail and keep Philip steady at the same time. 

It was a clumsy process, but somehow they managed to get to the top without taking any nasty falls. 

Once they were in the main office, Shoutarou moved over to the fridge, without a word. His face was harden and his jaw clenched. The pain was clearly worse than he was acknowledging. 

Philip wasn't quite sure how to ask about it. Humans were often so private about things like that. But he was curious. Curious about what sort of injury would be enough to make Shoutarou move like that. 

"Sit." Shoutarou ordered as he threw a couple ice packs on the table. "I'm going to show you how put on the brace."

"I can easily-"

"I know you can just look it up," Shoutarou cut him off, "Theory and practice are different. I want to make sure you don't end up hurting yourself more."

Philip accepted that answer. He settled in a chair, extending the injured leg in front of him. He pressed against it curiously as he waited for Shoutarou to return. He hadn't even noticed that it had swollen in the hours since he'd first felt the pain. 

"Stop messing with it," Shoutarou shooed Philip's hands away as he knelt in front of Philip. "You're only going to make it hurt more."

Shoutarou's left hand shook as he fasten the brace to Philip's knee. His fingers kept slipping on the fastening. 

"What happened to your arm?" Philip asked as Shoutarou struggled. He felt the odd temptation to run his fingers through Shoutarou's hair to reassure him. 

"I... fell," Shoutarou muttered as he finally finished putting on the brace, "Keep that on," he said firmly as he grabbed an ice pack to press to the swollen joint, "If you have to change clothes put it back on right after."

"You hurt yourself that badly from a fall?" Philip asked as he held the ice pack against his knee. It was uncomfortable, but the research he'd already done told him it was the right thing to do. 

"I fell off my bike." Shoutarou grabbed the second ice pack, pressing it against his own arm as he settled into the chair next to Philip. "It was _not_ my fault. Someone swerved in front of me."

"You got in an accident," Phillip jolted to his feet only to winced and fall back into the chair as the ice pack hit the ground. 

"Not a bad one. I was barely scratched up and the bike is fine. Quit moving around so much, you'll hurt yourself more."

"You're one to talk. You've been moving that arm around constantly." 

"Yeah, but I know what my body can take better than you."

Philip frowned. He didn't appreciate the reminder of his own ignorance, especially not when it was paired with Shoutarou being reckless. "If it's not that bad, can I see?" 

It was a challenge, but also an excuse. Philip had already wanted to see the injury, but knowing how bad it was, he was very curious. And worried, he did care about Shoutarou and wanted to make sure he wasn't lying about the severity. 

"First you say I shouldn't move my arm, then you want me to take my shirt off," Shoutarou grumbled as he pulled his tie loose, "Pick one."

"I can help you take it off." 

Shouatarou froze as Philip scooted his chair close enough that he could start unbuttoning Shouatrou's shirt. Philip could hear the way Shoutarou's breath caught in his throat as his shirt was unbuttoned. And he noticed the way Shoutarou shiver when Philip's fingers brushed against his chest. That was intriguing, perhaps something to experiment with at a later time. 

Shoutarou shifted as Philip finished with the buttons, letting the shirt fall off his injured shoulder. "Is this what you wanted to see?" 

Philip stared at the marks. They weren't new. Not all of them. There were some fresh dark red marks along Shoutarou's arm from wrist to shoulder, but some of the them were already turning purple. Along Shoutarou's rib cage there were some bruises that were already mottled green and yellow. Those must have been from an entirely different accident. 

Philip reached out, fingers running delicately over the fresh bruises. As bad as they looked, the skin hadn't broken. They were just swollen. Philip shifted closer, tracing the line of the marks up to Shoutarou's bicep, he had to lean over the see where they ended, partway across Shoutarou's shoulder blade. 

Philip was fascinated. He'd bruised him a couple times, but usually he wouldn't even notice until the mark had nearly healed. He'd never gotten to see anything like this before. It was bad, he took no joy in Shoutarou being hurt, but the way the human body looked when injured was captivating.

Philip continued mapping the bruise with his fingers, tracing them across Shoutarou's shoulder before getting distracted by an older mark. A small scar rested just below Shoutarou's collar bone. 

Philip didn't have any of those. All his injuries were new. He leaned in, taking in the feel of the old scar under his thumb.

A soft gasp distracted Philip from his examination and he pulled back. He hadn't realized how close he'd gotten to Shoutarou. "Sorry, did I hurt you?"

Shoutarou's face was red as he looked anywhere but at Philip. "Not really, you're being plenty gentle."

"Then why..." 

Shoutarou stood abruptly. As he did Philip noticed other marks. There were bruises in various states of healing all over his chest and a more scars, some fresh, some old and faded. Why had Philip never noticed them before? Shoutarou's body rarely felt sore when they were sharing it. 

And why did he suddenly feel the need to touch all of them? To map how Shoutarou felt with his hands and, oddly, with his mouth. 

"I have work to do." Shoutarou walked over to his desk, pulling his shirt back on clumsily. "And so should you," he said, not quite looking at Philip as he grabbed a notebook, tossing it over to his partner, "If you need to take notes use this instead of walking around downstairs."

"But Shoutarou, what about your-"

"My arm's fine," Shoutarou was struggling with the buttons. He turned away to hide it, but it was laughably obvious. For some reason, Philip didn't feel like laughing this time. 

"I'll be back in time for dinner," Shoutarou said as he tied his tie. It was a messy knot, not halfway to the standards Shoutarou usually had. 

Shoutarou was out the door before Phillip could ask anymore questions. Which was fine. Philip had a whole list of new things he needed to research.


End file.
